Association between anemia and subclinical infection in children in Paraíba State, Brazil

Abstract

BACKGROUND: With subclinical infection, serum iron concentrations are reduced, altering the synthesis of hemoglobin, the main indicator of anemia. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the association between subclinical infection and anemia in children of Paraíba State. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional study involving 1116 children aged 6 to 59 months from nine municipalities of Paraíba State. Demographic and socioeconomic data were collected by means of a specific questionnaire. The C-reactive protein and hemoglobin levels were determined by the latex agglutination technique and automated counter, respectively. C-reactive protein values > 6 mg/L were used as indicative of subclinical infection, while the presence of anemia was determined by hemoglobin values 6 mg/L, with a mean hemoglobin level in children with subclinical infection of 10.93 g/dL (standard deviation - SD = 1.21 g/dL) and without infection of 11.26 g/dL (SD = 1.18 g/dL) (p-value < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Anemia is associated with subclinical infection in this population, indicating that this is an important variable to be considered in studies of the prevalence of anemia in children.

Keywords

• Infection
• Hemoglobin
• Anemia
• Child
• Public health